


Man of the House

by wearesuchweirdos



Category: Friday the 13th, Friday the Thirteen, The Christmas Cottage - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-25
Updated: 2015-02-25
Packaged: 2018-03-15 00:40:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3431675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wearesuchweirdos/pseuds/wearesuchweirdos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Kinkade's had always been the kind of family one would see in the covers of magazines, on the pictures of families that come when you buy new picture frames, the perfect family- Or well... So it used to be. Father killed in action, mother dying of unknown causes. Thomas was barely eleven years old when he was forced to get his own job, to take care of himself and his brother. Now, nine years later things haven't changed much for him, he still lives in the same old tent hidden behind some bushes, his brother is off at college now, but Thomas's daily routines remain the same. Or they used to, up until the day when his path's cross with those of a photography major, a man fresh out of college, with a small problem in the head, dark humor, but still good at heart. Things seemed to finally be turning sunny- But sun-days cannot last forever. Specially not with the coldest winter ever recorded is approaching.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Man of the House

Thomas really never went out, not much anymore- At least not during the day, it was safer that way really. No one would ever see him, and in all reality it was least embarrassing for him to not be seen when he went outside and looked for any dropped coins that would have easily been forgotten about in the sidewalk, or well- Anything really that could be useful and had been forgotten about. He was usually ignored by those who were out having a late night, he’d never bothered anybody and so far nobody had bothered him. He was known by some of the storeowners around here- Both him and his brother, as they had been living in this same spot ever since their father’s death during his time in the military. Sometimes they took pity on him and purposefully dropped some coins on the floor before they closed the store. 

It had always been just him and his brother- Or well, it used to be. Thomas had worked as hard as he could to get Pat into good schools when they were little, to keep him in there, and eventually to send him into college. And everything had paid off when a letter came in saying his brother had been admitted into Berkley. The two had celebrated that day, they spend whatever money they could spare and they bought some cupcakes, chips and sodas and snuck into the drive through theater that night. They had watched a Disney movie, Lilo and Stitch, and even though Thomas ended up crying most of it, it was still one of the best memories either of the boys had.  
A year had passed now since that night, Pat was off studying to become a writer, and Thomas- Well… He never finished Middle School to begin with- Patrick had, but all that time Thomas spend it trying to find whatever job he could find to keep Pat with a full tummy and warm clothes. At one point the jobs had stopped though, no one wanted to hire the scrawny twenty year old who lived in the streets, didn’t know any further from his simple math and had never made it past the sixth grade. But still he went on, it wasn’t like he could do anything else really, this was the only life he knew by now. You could put him back inside of a house, but he wouldn’t know how to deal with it, everything to clean and too pretty and him too afraid to touch it and accidentally break it. But it was alright. He was happy with his life, somewhat. He missed his brother, mom and father, he missed his old town and his old friends- And mostly he missed having people to be around. Yet he always tried to ignore all this and push it to the back of his head. He had a somewhat stable place to live, he had his chalk, and he had his pictures- He could with this… Of course he could. Sleep at day, and go out at night- Hide the tenth so no one will find you, stay quiet, don’t look at people in the eye and be kind. Always be kind. It was what his mom had always taught him, it was a lesson he still lived by today. Be kind to others and the lord will always take care of you and watch over you. 

He sometimes wondered if what his mother said was really true. There were a lot of times when things seemed to be crumbling in between them, like the time Pat had gotten really, really sick in the middle of a harsh winter, boiling with fever and throwing up everything he ate, even if his stomach was empty he still threw it all up. Thomas had thought Pat wouldn’t of made it past that winter, but by some miracle his brother begun to get better, and he was forever grateful for that now. But it now sometimes lead him to think of how much longer he had. He’d heard on the radio this winter was supposed to be the harshest of them all.  
Thomas looked around the tent, it was old, very old, and worn out, it was already struggling to protect them from the elements, and now one could see where holes were opening up, Thomas tried to duct tape them, but god knows how long they would last. But no matter what- Something just told him he might not possibly make it out of this winter. The thought scared him, death always had. If he died it meant Pat would be by himself in the world, he couldn’t allow that. He was the older brother, he was supposed to help his younger brother, he was the man of the house, his mom had told him, and those were words he still had stuck in his head. And the man of the house was what he tried to be.  
But the man of the house has an actual job,

The man of the house could have paid for his brother’s tuitition  
The man of the house could have had afforded an actual house for his brother  
The man of the house wouldn’t have lived in a crappy tent hidden behind bushes for the past nine years  
The man of the house wouldn’t be going out at night trying to find coins or food  
The man of the house doesn’t cry  
The man of the house doesn’t make himself get arrested some nights just so he will have a warm place to sleep at nights.  
Tears rolled down his cheeks and he clung to himself, if only his mother and father would see him now- They would probably turn their heads away in shame.


End file.
